we do our best to make that work. deal! my money. my choice. my meineke. we have a visitor. i'm going to ask him some questions. if he gets it right, he gets it book. "conventional idiocy." what's the video segment called? >> fotos dia. >> brook baldwin's segment called. trending, can you catch? ready? congratulations. you get the book. appreciate it. that's it for us. situation room with wolf blitzer next. new evidence that the man trying to bomb times square in new york city didn't plan to stop there. this hour, we're learning more about the terror threats then and now including a potential plot to attack high-profile targets in europe.

also, the california governor's race gets combustible with new allegations leveled by a former housekeeper to republican candidate meg whitman. stand by for the story and brand new polls on some of the hottest political races in the nation. some will surpriseyou. our investigative correspondent will reveal how she was almost punked. political activist tried to create a fake story and embarrass cnn. wait until you hear and see these very strange details. i'm wolf blitzer. you're in "the situation room". threatened to be the most serious terror attacks since 9/11. now we're learning that he had over targets as well. a potential terror plot in europe that may have been green lighted by osama bin laden himself. let's bring in homeland security

correspondent jeanne meserve. she's learning more details. what do we know about the accused times square bomber, jeanne. >> the government is recommending that he be sentenced to life in prison. in this sentencing document, a few new details about this case. the government alleges that in the three months leading up to the bombing, he used the internet to study realtime video feeds to study different areas of times square. by doing this, the government says, i was able to determine what parts of times square was crowded and b when. if he had not been caught, he planned to detonate another explosive device in new york city two weeks later. he did plead guilty in the case. there was no plea deal with the prosecutors, wolf? what's the latest on the current terror intelligence that's coming in? because there's a lot of concern that there could be another plot unfolding in europe. >> multiple sources toll us that

the plot concerned mumbai-style command attacks in europe on symbols of economic power like banks and stock exchanges. the potential perpetrator, sources say, are people with western passports that can travel around europe. the intelligence is not precise. but the believe is that a dozen individuals may be involved. on the record, u.s. officials are saying as little as they can about the investigation. >> we are not going to comment on specific intelligence. as doing so threatens to undermine intelligence operations that are critical and protecting the united states and our allies. >> on background, u.s. officials say they see no indication that the intelligence about potential terror attacks in europe has a u.s. dimension. but, they are continuing to look. >> they don't know what they don't. they don't know -- they only have pieces of this puzzle.

they know they don't have all of them. so they're reluctant to rule out there's annex cis next hit to t united states until they understand the plot. >> different threats coming from different places and it's not yet clear how or if they'll come together. a german counterterrorism official says that much of the intelligence is coming from a german citizen of afghan dissent by the name of ahmed sadiki. he was arrested in kabul and in u.s. custody. listen to this jihadi video. another. >> that video and others appeared to show germans training in pakistan. 200 germans have participated. it's one of many reasons the officials on both sides of the atlantic are taking this threat very seriously. and, wolf, we were told by one u.s. law enforcement official that they believed that osama

bin laden may have signed off on this plot. back to you. >> all right, jeanne, we're going to stay on top of this story. countdown to election day in california. the republican candidate for governor, meg whitman, is being hit with personal and politically charged allegations. jessica yellen is here. she's working the story for us. it involves her former housekeeper. these are serious allegations this woman is making. >> weeks before the campaign -- the election, wolf. the former housekeeper of nine years came forward today saying she was fired by meg whitman when she told her she's been in the country illegally. she wept when she was in a press conference saying that whitman knew about this all along. >> she was show throw me away l piece of garbage. i don't feel like -- i should be

treated this way. she kept me as if i was not a human being. >> the celebrity attorney gloria allred is filing a complaint alleging that whitman took advantage but important to note there are no allegations of any kind of physical abuse. she just says she was somewhat mistreated. meg whitman, she says she was just misled. she said santianne gave her falsified documents saying she was legal. the whitman campaign released those documents to the media. we have reviewed them. the campaign said she confessed last year and was fired. in a statement whitman said, quote, i believe niki is being manipulated by gloria allred for political and financial purposes in the last few weeks of a hotly contested election. bottom line, we see these things being dropped at the end of an election. the main thing is immigration is a major issue in a california

race. >> how is this going to affect the campaign? >> two things, the new cnn-"time" magazine poll being released today shows that jerry bro brown, the democratic candidate there is nine points ahead of whitman in the latest polling. he's polling 52% to meg whitman's 43%. keep in mind, she's been on air more, spent far more money than brown, and still he's ahead. the new development goes to immigration policy of whitman because she's for tough new penalties for employers who hire undocumented workers. wonder if she'll have to answer to allegations that she couldn't verify that in her own house. >> is it my imagination or is it true that women candidates seem to be plagued with these questions more than male candidates? >> it's an interesting question. we can leave the answer up to our viewers. but we'll point out that here are just some of the women whose political aspirations were crushed when it was revealed they had either immigration or tax problems with house hold

staff. now, compare that to two male public figures we can think of, mitt romney and treasury secretary tim geithner who had similar problems with their staff but their political careers are still clearly going strong. >> let's be precise, meg whitman said it's a total absolute lie like this housekeeper is alleging. >> correct. she was misled about her immigration status and never abused her. >> thanks for that. appreciate it. nine years after the 9/11 attacks, a long-awaited move to help congress help the emergency workers who arrived at the scene first. a piece of legislation that prompted one lawmaker to get very emotional. members of congress are heading for the exit doors right now without a vote on extending the bush tax cuts. will either party pay a price for that on election day? we'll talk to two outspoken and influential lawmakers. standing by live. democrat chris van holland and republican kevin mccarthy. and the military's fight against a potentially fatal enemy.

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we'll stay on top of this story for you. a horrible, horrible bus crash in bethesda, maryland right outside of washington, d.c. check in with jack cafferty. jack? chris christie is shaking up the state's education system and the other 49 states ought to take notes. christie is out with a plan to reform public schools that would base teacher's pay hikes on student performance and not seniority or tenure. the republican governor wants all teachers in kindergarten through the fifth gad to pass tests in reading and writing themselves to be certified. that's a novel concept. that could lead to the firing of lousy teachers and bad principals who hurt our children. a rare politician who seems to understand what's going on. under the current system, teachers aren't tenured. raises based only on seniority or advanced degrees. that's not all. he wants to select master teachers, pay them more money so good teachers stay in the

classroom rather than leave for the administrative jobs that pay more. and he wants to offer merit races for teachers who work in the lower-performing schools. teachers, as you might expect, are not happy with the plan. they don't like the idea of tying evaluations too closely to students' scores saying there's other experiences involved like the students' experiences at home. they don't want to give up tenure. experts say the plan would improve the quality of education in new jersey public schools. the legislature will have to sign off on the seniority and tenure changes. should public schoolteachers have to pass math and reading plans themselves. jack, a real star among the republicans, chris christie, since beating john corzine for governor of new jersey, isn't he? >> yes, he is. >> he's got a big future in politics ahead of him. we'll stay on top of this together with you, jack. thank you. now to florida, an independent governor, the

florida republican charlie chrys is facing an increasingly uphill battle to become the state's new senator. the "time" magazine opinion research corporation poll, marco rubio has the lead with 42% of the vote. charlie crist trails with 31% followed by the democratic candidate with 23%. let's talk about this a little bit more with our senior political analyst, david gergen. are you surprised that rubio, who has been a favorite of the tea party movement, is doing as well as he is against charlie crist who had been a popular governor? >> a little surprised but consistent with the national trend. there are a number of states that barack obama is below 50%. where republicans are doing increasingly well in some of the senate races. marco rubio is one good example. he started to pull away some. and illinois -- another state where the republican candidate for the senate, rob portman starting to pull away some.

whereas in california -- and i know you'll have more to say about this as the nigh t goes o, but in florida where barack obama remains popular, 50%, you have a strong race for the democrats. both for the governor and for the senate race. so that has a lot to do with how these things are going. and in florida, you have a three-way race. and, crist, the republican who turned independent is now caught in the squeeze between the republican, marco rubio who won the primary, and meek, who is the democratic kanld date. you know, he's the third man out, in effect, and his numbers are starting to go down. >> take a look at this ad that kendrick meek is now running directly aimed at charlie crist and trying to convince democrats don't cross over and vote for the independent. listen to this. >> i'm as about as conservative as you can get. >> jeb bush republican. >> president bush. he's a leader of courage and conviction.

>> i was impressed with governor palin being picked. i watched her speech, i was very impressed. >> get your opinion on whether we should be drilling off of the coast of florida. >> it's something we ought to explore. >> pro life, pro gun, anti-tax republican. >> it's important for people to understand who the true conservative is in this race, and it's charlie crist. >> that's a kendrick meek ad trying to convince democrats and moderates not to be misled, don't vote for charlie crist. is that going to work? >> that's the cross fire that's occurring. the way marco rubio went after him on the rep pub side when crist was a republican, he went out to say you ear too close to barack obama. a famous picture of crist embracing obama on the trip to florida. now the democrat is coming out on the other side saying he's too conservative. why would a democrat vote for this conservative. that's what i mean by getting caught in a cross fire and getting squeezed.

he is popular. it's interesting, you know, it's the same thing that happened to green in west virginia where popular governor is now finding to be a tough fight in a state where barack obama is not popular. in florida, you get a cross fire. >> we're going to invite all three of them to join us in the situation room between now and november 2. we're going to invite all of the senate candidates to join us. because the voters have a right to take a look at these candidates. so thanks very much, david, for that. by the way, we have more poll numbers coming in on key battle ground states in california, in illinois, and alaska. this new cnn/"time" magazine poll, stand by, we'll share those numbers. some will, in fact, surprise you. up next, we eerl going 're update you on the horrific bus crash in washington, d.c. people are trapped right now. we have a producer on the scene. then, major victory for emergency workers on the scene in the harrowing moments after the 9/11 terror attacks. new information coming in from

capitol hill.

we've been following this bus crash outside of washington, d.c. in bethesda, maryland. right now, our producer is on the scene for us. set the scene for us. this is a pretty horrific incident. >> what happened was a mid sized bus came off of the sky ramp that leads to i-270 northbound. it came off of the sky ramp, i don't know how it happened. ended up severely damaged but on its wheels on to the highway itself. at the present time, the rescue efforts have ended. all of the victims have been extra kated and transported by ambulance from the scene. one confirmed fatality remains inside the bus. and will probable remain there pending the investigation of the law enforcement authorities

here. >> stay on top of this, vito, a horrible, horrible accident. he's working the story for us. he's on the scene. right now members of congress are trying to finish up as much work as they can before heading home to campaign for re-election. a significant development to capitol hill. let's go straight to dana bash. she's working the story for us. tell us what finally happened today? >> what happened -- this just happened a short while ago, is that democrats put up a motion to adjourn. the congress -- the house has to vote in order to go home for the election, which is something they wanted to do as soon as tonight. but guess what? it almost failed. and the reason is because republicans have been making the argument that the house should not leave before voting to extend tax cuts. they want to extend all tax cuts. democrats made a decision that it's too politically dicy to have a vote on that at all before the election. but the republicans made a pretty good argument. so get this -- motion to adjourn almost failed.

it was 210-209. 39 democrats broke rank and voted with republicans. the speaker had to break the tie. she almost never votes but she did in this case, wolf. >> but the big news today is they finally passed this compensation package for 9d/11 firefighters and police officers nine years afterwards, many of whom are suffering from serious disease, serious injuries. all of a sudden look what happens, i want to play a clip before we talk about what happened. this is anthony weiner, only a month or so ago that the house of representatives failed to move. >> you vote yes if you believe yes. you vote in favor of something if you believe it's the right thing. if you believe it's the wrong thing, you vote no. >> whether lyou yield. >> we are following a procedure -- i will not yield to the gentleman, the gentleman

will see the order. >> finally passed the compensation health care package today. >> what democrats say is they put it on the floor of the house and required a supermajority to vote for it. and they didn't get that. the reason that democrats did that at the time was because they were worried that republicans were going to do something to try to block it or maybe put something unrelated on this measure. today, though, what democrats did is they offered it on the floor of the house with just a simple majority. they rolled the dice, saying, look, we hope that this bill, which is $7.4 billion, to give for health benefits for thousands of people who were there at the beginning at 9/11 to help people and deal with situations. they hoped it would pass. they were right. the reason they were right, that it was okay to put this on the floor and get that majority in which they were able to do, is not necessarily because republicans agreed with this, it's because republicans decided

tactically, politically, they didn't want to try to stop this. they want to keep their message on tax cuts and democrats going home before voting on tax cuts and they didn't want to get pegged with republicans blocking a bill that's popular, the idea of giving health benefits to the people who are there on the front lines of 9/11 and have suffered illnesses because of it. >> rescue workers. down goes to the senate. what are the prospect there is? >> right now the senate is planning on leaving as early as tonight as well. there is a chance. we're told that the senate could take this up in the so-called lame duck session after they returned from -- from the election. but it is still unclear if they could do it this year. >> let's see what happens, dana, thank you. a man making sex allegations against a georgia pastor is speaking out. stand by for new developments in this case against bishop eddie long. one alleged victim is describing him as, quote, a monster. and the politics behind it. will members of congress pay a price for going home without a

vote on extending the bush tax cuts. top lawmakers from both parties standing by live to weigh in. what's this option? that's new.

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a dramatic new twist in the case of an atlanta megachurch pastor. allegations he coerced young men to sex. we're hearing from eddie long's accusers in their own words. ed lavendf e laf enlavendera ha one of the accusers is now speaking out, calling bishop a monster. jamal parish had finished a late-night grocery store run when a reporter from an atlanta television station, waga asked him about the shocking alsos of sexual misconduct against eddie long. >> the media and the press and the rest of the people in the city and the country look at

this how can a grown man let another man touch them. this man manipulated us from childhood. this is our father and we loved him. >> it's the first time we've heard from any of the young men suing eddie long. the men say the pastor convinced him over the years with the sexual relationship with the man they called daddy is part of their spiritual development. >> i can not get the sound of my voice out of my head and i cannot forget the smell of his cologne and i cannot forget the way he made me cry not able to take enough showers to wipe the smell of him off of my body. >> eddie long still enjoys great support for many in his church family. his wife stood by his side when he spoke to the congregation this past sunday. he vows to continue to fight the allegations that threaten to bring down the multimillion dollar spiritual empire he created over the last 25 years.

there have been allegations and attack attacks made on me. i have never in my life portrayed myself as a perfect man. but i am not the man who's being portrayed on the television. >> eddie long's attorneys and public relations advisors have made no secret they plan to vigorously defend the bishop. they hired t.j. ward, a prominent private investigator, you may recognize him from the prominent natalee holloway case. he was hired by the attorney to investigate her disappearance in aruba. she's the attorney for the four accusers. she's been preparing her clients for the rep lentless scrutiny. >> they would not have filed

this lawsuit if they didn't feel exploited and angry and betrayed. they love this man of god until they started to realize what was happening to them. >> eddie long's attorneys reacted to the interview today by saying unfortunately the plaintiffs and counsel are attempting to try their lawsuits in the media. there are rules with how they should take place and how we as counsel should conduct themselves ms. we intend to follow those rules. jamal parris' attorney stressed to us that she told all of the clients not to do any interviews and it was simply him being asked this question in an inopportune time that opened up the flood gates of emotion. that's why he answered the questions. >> i know you'll stay on top of it. a different kind of violence appears to be unfolding at the site of the worst shooting in a military base in decades. four u.s. soldiers have die in

the past week and it's believed they committed suicide. let's bring in our pentagon correspondent chris lawrence, four apparent suicide in a matter of days, chris, what's going on here? oh. >> one thing, wolf. ft. hood is the largest army base in the world, more than 50,000 troops there. they've seen the most deployments. when troops deploy, they come back with chronic pain. a lot of times they're operating with little sleep for extended periods of time. but you just can't blame only combat deployments. one of the soldiers suspected of killing himself has four deployments to iraq and afghanistan during some of the most violent years of those war wars. but another soldier deployed this time last year when violence in iraq was at an all-time low. two of the soldiers and their wives had been undergoing some form of counseling. if there was any stigma to not seeking help, they had overcome that and still killed themselves. i've been to ft. hood.

i was there a few months ago. they have multiple programs to deal with suicide prevention. the chaplain there is are on call 24 hours a day, seven days a week. the base commander said that the shooting incident in ft. hood does not appear to have any relation to this rash of suicide. you have to wonder if they're telling people to get help, they have that image in their minds, they have played a small part. >> heart breaking story there. thanks so much. >> the taliban says it isn't so. what prompted the denial and what it could mean for the war in afghanistan. and the bizarre attempt by an activist group to pull a fast one on a cnn correspondent. >> anything to say about the charges against you? why were you in senator landrieu's office? and launched behindtheburner.com. we create and broadcast content and then distribute it across tv, the web, and via mobile.

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kate baldwin is back. she's monitoring other stories in the situation room right now. what's going on? the obama administration is bringing new sanctions against iran. the sanctions announced by hillary clinton and treasury secretary tim geithner will target those responsible for human rights abuses. >> the mounting evidence of repression against anyone who questions iranian government decisions or advocates for transparency or even attempts to defend political prisoners is very troubling. >> and the sanctions will block

assets and prohibit u.s. citizens from engaging in any business with those on the list. the taliban, refuting a new u.s. claim that some of the leaders had been in contact with the afghan government. the comments made by governener david petraeus appear in the afghan times. he said it has contact with the militant group is downplaying the remarks. it formed a new council aimed at improving taliban relations. america's support for the war in afghanistan is falling. a new cnn opinion research corporation surveyed shows that 44% of the public believes thinks are going well for the united states in the region, that's down from 55% in march. the pentagon is asked to address a very interesting situation. outbreak of drug-resistant illnesses in u.s. troops known as superbug infections. today, a congressional sub

committee called on military officials to explain what's being done to control the condition. according to a government estimate, more than 3,000 service members evacuated from iraq and afghanistan developed the fatal infections between 2004 and 2009. 3,000 service members, wolf. >> that's a lot. i hope they can find something to deal with it. serious issue. >> anytime you hear the word "superbug" sound serious to me. one republican candidate tells president obama to, quote, go to hell. is respect for the office at a new low. i'll ask two top congressional leaders. mccarthy and chris van holland. and later, jim demint is threatening to block all legislation on the senate floor. i'll ask a south carolina colleague how he feels about that. see and hear my live interview with senator lindsey graham. >> without objection so ordered. packed into one.

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republicans firing new shots at democrats on the hill on their decision not to take up the controversial bush-era tax cuts before the upcoming recess and midterm elections. listen to the senate minority

leader, john boehner. >> we didn't hear what he had to say. i'll read it to you. >> with the idea that we're going to leave here and not ix tend all of the tax breaks is irresponsibility on the part of this congress. how could any member could vote to adjourn and punt this to a lame duck session is putting your election above the needs of your constituents. that statement from john boehner. talk about that. joining us the congressman from maryland, representative chris van holland. he's the chairman of the democratic congressional campaign committee. he's on your right. also joining us, the republican representative from california, kevin mccarthy serves as vice chairman of recruitment for the national republican congressional committee. thanks to both of you for coming in. chris van holland, i'll go to

you first. is it irresponsible not to deal with these tax cuts for the middle class and everyone else before you leave to go out and campaign? >> no, it's irresponsible, wolf, is for the republican leader in the senate, mitch mcconnell, to say that he's going to hold middle class tax relief, relief for 98% of the american people hostage until he can get tax breaks for the top 2%. at the same time, that will add $700 billion to our deficit. it will slow down economic debt in the long term. and hurt job growth. that is what's irresponsible. we will pass middle class tax relief this year and get it done. we saw what happen in the senate with the small business jobs bill. what happened? it was the republicans who held that up for weeks and weeks, months and months. so we will take this issue to the election. >> you'll have the vote after the election, though, in the lame duck session. and congressman mccarthy, the

president went directly after you on this. he said you guys claim you want budget deficit reductions, but you want to increase the deficit by $700 billion by allowing rich people to continue to have the tax breaks. listen to the president. >> you can't say you want to balance the budget, deal with our deficit, invest in our kids, and have a $700 billion tax cut that affects only 2% of the population. you just can't do it. >> can you do it? we rolled back spending to prestimulus, prebailout. that will save you more than enough money. but more importantly, you have to think of what's happening here. the uncertainty out there. the democrats have been in power for four years. they know this has been coming. they let it go. but also, this is the first majority since the balanced budget act, since the budget reform act of '74 passed. they don't have a budget. they're going home with no budget, no direction on what

they're going to do in taxes. they're going to raise taxes on those that are in small business that create 70% of all jobs. you look at the cbo scoring, they say if that happens, you can lose 1.2 million jobs. this is the problem with washington. this is the problem with the current majority and the leadership. the lack there of. >> because the issue in part, congressman van holland, you didn't have the votes, apparently, certainly not in the senate right now. even on this issue to adjourn today, you barely got enough votes. nancy pelosi, the speaker really had to get involved because so many democrats weren't with you. >> wolf, as i said, we've seen what has happened time and again in the united states senate where republicans have held relief for small businesses up. in this case, they said, we're going to hold up, you know, tax relief for the middle income americans hostage. but i want to get to a point that some of the republican colleagues keep arguing with respect to the tax cuts. that somehow they're necessary to help small businesses. first of all, only 2% of small businesses are affected.

that's according to the joint economic committee. and when you dig in to that, they have a big warning flag. and they say, you know what? a lot of these are not small businesses. it includes pricewaterhouse. it includes fortune 100 companies, it i includes bipg washington law firms. my question to kevin and his colleagues is why is it they want to give tax relief to big washington law firms and hold tax relief everybody else hostage. >> we're not the majority. we'd gladly run this bill. let us be in the lead -- we'll have enough democrats on our side to eck tend them all the way. there's no tax cut. you're going to keep the same tax system or increase taxes. last week we rolled out the pledge to america. we went to the lumber company. if it goes through the way the democrats want it to be, that small business that no one in that business that had raises in two years, they had to lay off the first person in 21 years and they're using their savings, they would be paying taxes higher than the corporate tax of america, which is the second largest in the world, because

they're an s corporation like the majority of small businesses. small businesses account for 70% of all job growth. that is where we need to be able to assist. that's why in the pledge to america, we talk about a cut to small businesses, a 20% income cut for those of 500 employees or less. we have to get the country moving again. the uncertainty is keeping the capital that somebody has on the sideline. >> that's the issue, congressman van holland, the uncertainty. people say, we want to hire, we're sitting on the cash. but we don't know what the tax rates are going to be, we don't know what the rules are going to be. give us guidance and we could go ahead and hire folks. >> first, wolf, our colleagues after they had that event, they broke their pledge very quickly. we came back and had a vote last thursday on the small business credit and jobs bill. which did two things -- number one, it allowed more credit to flow to small businesses who are uncertain, exactly as you say to what the economy is going to be like whether they get credit. it will allow more credit to

flow. it provides major incentives for new investments in the small businesses now, which is exactly why the president has proposed 100% depreciation for small businesses and other businesses right now in a targeted way rather than in an open-ended tax break for the folks at the very top that adds the $700 billion to our deficit and is a drag on long-term economic growth. look, wolf, if they -- if the bush tax cuts for the very top were somehow the panacea for economic growth, why is it that after eight years, we ended up losing -- >> very quickly answer. because i have to take a break. go ahead, congressman. >> the only thing i see -- you have lack of leadership here. four years to deal with it. they took over the gavel, the budget -- the deficit was $161 billion. it's $1.4 trillion now. it's the first majority that has not produced a budget. this is their behavior here. that's why america wants change. >> heaven knows we had an enforcement agreement. we passed one. we deuced levels from the

president's request. we passed pay-go legislation. statutory pay go that puts brakes on spending. they all voted against it. it was in place to help bring down the deficit. >> don't g away. we have more to discuss. stand by with me for a moment. just when you thought the tough political food fights couldn't get much worse,worse, the repub nominee for the governor of the state of maine tells president obama to quote "go to hell" and we will talk about that and more later. and u.s. and china relations strained for months, but now new signs of hope coming from beijing. [ male announcer ] if you have type 2 diabetes,

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call your doctor if you have an allergic reaction like rash, hives or swelling of the face, mouth or throat. ask your doctor if you also take a tzd as swelling in the hands, feet or ankles may worsen. blood tests will check for kidney problems. you may need a lower dose of onglyza if your kidneys are not working well or if you take certain medicines. [ male announcer ] ask your doctor about adding onglyza. extra help. extra control. you may be eligible to pay $10 a month with the onglyza value card program. let's continue our conversation with two u.s. congressmen. chris van hollen and kevin mccarthy. congressman mccarthy, there is a republican candidate from maine who is running right now, paul lepage, and he said this, and i want to play the clip, because it is underscoring what is going on and the poisonous atmosphere out there right now. listen to. this --

>> you will be seeing a lot of me on the front page saying, governor lepage tells obama to go to hell. is that appropriate to tell the president of the united states that you will be hearing a lot from me, and i will be telling you to go to hell. >> we need to work together, but what you are hearing in the voice is the frustration in the country where there are many in my own hometown of bakersville who turn out to be frustrated on the lack of budget and then passing a health care bill where many people were opposed to it and now more people opposed to it than ever before and the frustration is bringing out more. and they are mad at both sides of the aisle, but they want to see this place in washington change. and in november, it will. >> congressman mccarthy, i don't suspect they would ever hear you

say to the president to go to hell. >> i will not say that to chris. we can have an adult conversation, and that is what the people are looking for in america. we are facing biggest challenges in the history. we are are divided on the issue, but we come together afterwards to be americans first to sol tv problems. >> the president came into office to hope to solve the poisonous atmosphere in washington, congressman van holland, but it seems as bad if not worse than a couple of years ago. >> well, wolf, you are right. he did. he put out an olive branch. he said he wanted to work with our colleagues on the other side of the aisle, and right out of the box when it came to the economic recovery plan, when the economy was in total freefall. i mean, losing 700,000 jobs every month when the president was sworn in, and he said, let's put together a plan to get the economy going, and not a single republican in the house

supported that effort even though they had supported the bush effort on t.a.r.p., and they supported other efforts, but when it came to trying to get the economy going again, there was not a single vote at that particular time. now the economy has stabilize and what they are asking the american people to do as part of the new document that they put out is to say trust us, we will go back to the same set of economic policies that created that 700,000 job loss the month that the president was sworn in, and let's repeal the wall street reforms which were an effort to correct the lessons from the past. >> we will continue down the road with a lot more to discuss. chris van hollen and chris mccarthy, thank you both for coming in. >> thank you, wolf. should teachers have to pass english and math tests themselves? jack cafferty has your e-mail responses. and there is some proof that christine o'donnell may have

exaggerated her resume. she may not be the only onement in 2008 i quit venture capital to follow my passion for food. i saw a gap in the market for a fresh culinary brand and launched behindtheburner.com. we create and broadcast content and then distribute it across tv, the web, and via mobile. i even use the web to get paid. with acceptpay from american express open, we now invoice advertisers and receive payments digitally. and i get paid on average three weeks faster. booming is never looking for a check in the mail. because it's already in my email.

jack is back with the cafferty file. jack? >> question is should public schoolteachers have to pass math and reading tests themselves as is being proposed by new jersey governor christy. she writes, i'm one of the former young teachers who left after five years out of college. why? the tenured sat in the lounge smoking and it was the 1970s and grousing and telling us young teachers not to work so hard and that we were too enthusiastic.

loved the kids, but not most of the peers. not much has changed, has it? you go governor christy. and james in north carolina says certainly they ought to, but the teachers union would not allow it, because the union exists to serve the teachers and what's more the massive administration and its layers of excess personnel. who could force the teachers to take the tests? they are above the law. mike said, i assumed they did in college beginning with the s.a.t.s and had they not passed they would not have been hired as teachers. we should give them the benefit of the doubt and stop trying to politicize the education system. to educate the children, the parents have to take responsibility and look at the classes that ri in and make them study and turn off the tvs and the video games and demand that your brats behave. jeff in hawaii writes i think it is a great idea. growing up in california, hayed a soccer coach who taught government and a football coach who taught health and a chemistry teacher who majored in english and a history teacher

who only knew what was in our outdated textbooks. testing teachers makes sense. and meghans says, i taught for 30 years in high school and i was effective and competent and took time to get there, but i did. tenure and sen yoor ti rules have to go, i agree, but there are factors that teachers can not influence, and that is student readiness and parent support are two of them. frankie says, well, it is a no brainer, there should not be a single school in america where the wealthiest citizens should be afraid to send their children. this is known as equality. if you want the read more, you will find it on my blog. >> thank you, jack for that. here in "the situation room" happening now, a controversial activist sets sights on cnn, and he tried to dupe one of our special investigations correspondents, and she was tipped off and now she has the goods on him. and now candidates whose resumes fail a fact check with false

claims about the backgrounds, and will it cost them on election day? and senator lindsey graham with a rebellious streak who has worked with democrats and maintains a relationship with president obama, and what is the sense of the frustration of the oval office and capitol hill? we will talk about that and the afghan war and much more and lindsey graham is here live. we want to welcome our viewers in the united states and around the world. i'm wolf blitzer, and you are in i'm wolf blitzer, and you are in "the situation room." -- captions by vitac -- www.vitac.com with just 34 days until the midterm election, president obama is stepping up efforts to stem democratic losses with a campaign style road show. two stops today including one on formerly friendly turf, which would be iowa where president obama carried 54% of the vote in 2008, but the limping economy has changed sentiments there. a des moines register poll shows that 59% of iowans are

dissatisfied with the president's handling of the economy which is up five points from february. from iowa on to richmond, virginia, for day two of the president's events. our white house correspondent dan lothian is there. dan, how did it go? >> well, wolf, i will tell you that white house aides tell me that they like these kind of events because the president is able to have a deeper discussion, and more than 30-second sound bites and something that fits on a bumper sticker. this event today had to be moved inside because of the rain and the president working a room of 35 people trying to energize voters and some of them not as enthusiastic as they were two years ago. >> reporter: in what looks like a political rewind, president obama is retracing the steps that led him to the white house. >> it is wonderful to be back. >> reporter: starting the day in iowa where he kicked off the campaign in 2007. ending up in virginia where on the eve of a historic election,

then candidate obama fired up tens of thousands of supporters. but that optimism has given up to skepticism, and he shearing about it up close in backyard discussions. >> i have a 24-year-old son who campaigned fiercely for you and was very inspired by your message of hope. he graduated from simpson college about a year and a half ago with honors. >> congratulations. >> he is still struggling to find a full-time job. >> right. >> he and his friends are struggling. they are losing their hope. >> reporter: the president acknowledged that the economy is still pushing against strong head winds, but that his administration will reap results. >> we are doing everything we can to grow the economy so that if they have the skills, that i will be able to find the jobs in the new economy. >> reporter: then this woman -- >> i have great concerns over your health bill. >> reporter: she cares for her

sick mother and peppered the president on medicare and medical coverage if her husband loses his job. six months after the health reform bill became law, there is uncertainty, and the president tried to tackle each concern point by point. >> insurance companies can no longer drop your coverage when you get sick which was happening. >> reporter: the president and his fellow democrats realize that many americans are frustrated or downright angry. they are trying to reassure voters ahead of the midterm elections. >> obviously, this is a jarring time for the country, and part of our job is to rally not just democrats, but to rally the country to move forward. the thing that we can't afford is to move back to the same policies that created that disaster, and that is what this election is about. >> reporter: well, the president has been getting some tough questions at these events, and many of them ability the economy, and white house spokesman bill burton saying that the president gets a chance to explain what the administration is doing, and he said to expect additional events

like this in the coming weeks. wolf? >> thank you, dan lothian. the president has done four of the backyard events in recent weeks which got us wondering how does the white house pick the location? we know that they pick a scenic neighborhood in the case of iowa they picked a suburb of beautiful oak trees and then look for people who have benefitted from the administration's policies. eight families made the cut, but jeff and sandy club, middle-class parents of two say they were ultimately selected because of their big backyard. they say it was like winning the lottery without even buying a ticket. there is new controversy swirling around the tea party movement that backed delaware senate candidate christine o'donnell, and claims on the resume, and brian todd is looking into this story, and she is certainly not the only candidate facing this kind of controversial issue. >> she is not, wolf. a few other candidates have got caught making false statements

about the past. it is raising questions about the vetting process inside of campaigns themselves, and among those who support them. >> did you get one? >> reporter: delaware's dynamic senate hopeful again finds herself in battle mode brushing back reports that she misrepresented her education. a linked in profile with her name on it said she studied at the university of oxford, but she did not. she took a course at the phoenix institute who has an affiliation with oxford. and a woman said, i never established a linked in profile nor authorized anyone to do so on my behalf. i have always been clear about my educational background. but there is another question, because her campaign website for the senate four years ago said she graduated from the new jersey fairly dickinson university, but it turns out the university tells us she did not receive her bachelor's degree until earlier this month, but o'donnell is hardly alone. >> on occasions, i have

misspoken about my ser, i have and i regret that. >> senate candidate richard bloomenthal from connecticut said he served in vietnam when he didn't. >> i apologize for those mistakes. >> and representative mark kirk lied about awards he had won and said he did not remember events correctly and miscommunicated others. jennifer duffy says this about o'donnell's problems. >> the tea party came out of nowhere and there is no organization and no hierarchy, so they are backing candidates that they never vetted. >> reporter: but what about any lasting damage? i asked cn senior political editor mark preston. do these problems hurt them at the polls right now? >> look at each race separately. in illinois, the fact that mark kirk acknowledged the flubs months ago show he has gotten over it and that is a tight race and not hurting him.

move up to connecticut the reason that linda mcmahon is moving up on bloomenthal is not because of the vietnam record, but because she is a successful businesswoman. and in delaware, many people don't think she is a good candidate whether she has misstated her history and past. >> reporter: questions about backgrounds are not restricted to candidates themselves. in new york, carl pal dino gubernatorial campaign is dealing with a report in "the new york times" that four of the campaign aides were either accused of financial misconduct or other brushes with the law. we tried the get a comment about that from the paladino campaign and they said they were working on that but have not gotten back to us. >> and do the campaigns think that they can get away with it, because of the media scrutiny and opposition scrutiny out there? >> well, you would think. but veteran campaigners say it is the campaign aides who put out talking points and put things up on the websites that

the candidates don't know about, and they are exaggerating and the candidate sometimes doesn't find out until the damage is done. but jennifer duffy says, it is the candidate's responsibility to check the material, because you better believe it is checked by the media or found out by somebody. >> and certainly the other party is going to find out, too, down the road, because that is what they do, opposition research is what they call it. thank you, brian, very much. jack is next with the cafferty report. and then some surprising developments in the closely watched races around the country. and there are some eye-popping polls from the sister corporation "time" magazine. and also, lindsay graham is closely involved in the afghan war, and does he support the start of a u.s. withdrawal from afghanistan next july? what is his take on the emotional stability of president hamid karzai?

we will ask him that and more. and a plot of a controversial activist targeting cnn. [ male announcer ] the craftsman cordless multi-tool. the power and versatility of six tools packed into one. more innovation. more great values.

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jack cafferty is here with the cafferty file. jack? >> it is no wonder that the tea party is getting the traction that it does. house democrats voted today to adjourn so they can go home friday and campaign for the midterm elections there. is no budget. there's no decision on what to do about the bush tax cuts that expired january 1st.

there is no willingness to confront any of the pressing issues they are paid by us to deal with. you see, our lawmakers are cowards. they don't want to vote right before an election, because that would be bad to for them, but to hell to the american people, because at the end of the day, it is about them, isn't it? they are ready to leave town again and they won't be back for five weeks. before heading out the house is expected to pass something called a continuing budget resolution to keep the federal government operating through december 3rd and it is necessary because they never bothered to pass a budget. didn't even make an effort. here is the problem, large majorities of americans disapprove of congress, and only 1 in 4 trust the federal government to do what is right always or most of the time, but in the end of the voting booth, something happens and they re-elect the same people over and over again and the people who are taking this country right down the drain. this year, there are signs that the midterm elections mite be particularly brutal for the party in power, the democrats, and experts believe that thep

ares have a good chance of picking up the 39 seats needed to take control of the house by the republicans. and they have an outside chance of gaining ten seats and controlling the senate. things are bad for the democrats all over, but especially in midwest. one republican pollster says that part of the country is the killing field for the democrats this year, unquote. here is the question, why would you vote for any incumbent? go the cnn.com/caffertyfile. post your comment on my blog. >> jack, thank you. every wednesday together with our sister publication "time" magazine, we release new poll numbers on key battleground race, and senate races and governor races and we have new ones coming out right now. these are the cnn/time/opinion research polls. let's go through the four key races starting in alaska and right now likely voters in the new poll, joe miller the

republican, 38%. and lisa murkowski who is a write-in candidate the incumbent republican, 36%, and scott mcadams the democrat 32%, and sampling error is 3%, so it is basically a tie between lisa murkowski and joe miller. >> nobody expected this when murkowski threw her hat into the write-in ring. we have not had a senator elected with the write-in since strom thurmond. this is a long-shot, and people are wanting to know how to spell murkowski. >> do they have to spell it correctly or say lisa m.? >> well, they have figure it out how to write in, but murkowski is identifying who is moderate and liberals from the democratic candidate. and in alaska, it is a state long significant to federal aid, and she will continue with the earmarks and the pork and the federal support coming to

alaska, and joe miller is campaigning on a no ear marc, and cut the federal government pledge, so lt of peopa lot of t are going to see the interests. >> we will invite them to "the situation room." and to california where the democrats are looking better. barbara boxer is 52%, and carly fiorina, 43%. can they rest easy the democrats? or way too early? >> it is too early. fiorina is outside of government and running in anti-government year and anti-incumbent year. one thing you will see is that barbara boxer is ahead with women, and california is pro-choice state, and carly is pro-life candidate, and so it may come down the that. >> and now a three-man race in florida marco rubio, and charlie christy the incumbent governor running as independent, 31%, and

kendrick meek, the congressman, 23%, and that nine-point advantage for marco rubio is looking good. >> yes, to win this, charlie crist has to pull supporters from kendrick meek. today, kendrick meek has an ad out and pointing out, running clips when charlie crisp said he was a die-hard republican and supported bush and palin. >> look at what is happening in barack obama's home state of illinois in the senate contest. alexei jou alexei giannoulias and that is pretty much tied. >> well, this is a candidate who is campaigning on breaking up banks and big corporations in america. he is not a mainstream candidate by any measure, but both the democrat and the republican are upside down in favorability, and the voters in illinois don't like either one very much, and

it is not clear who will win, but it is a lesser of two evils choice. >> and that is lee allen jones, the green party candidate in illinois. wow, the races are shaping up to be fascinating. we will be back next wednesday with more results with "time" magazine. thank you, michael. a tropical storm could cause problems far away from the tropics. we will have an update for you. and think world war i ended 92 years ago? well, think again, because it is not over until this weekend, and we will tell you why. stay with us here in "the situation room."

kate bolduan is monitoring the other top stories in "the situation room" right now. hi, kate. what is going someone. >> hi, wolf. u.s. military relations with china are quote back on track. the pentagon made that declaration today following u.s. and china talks in beijing. military relations have been on hold since last january when the obama administration unveiled a multibillion dollar arms deal with taiwan. they have scheduled two more meetings, and the pentagon says it is possible that defense secretary robert gates could eventually visit china. and tropical storm nicole

has lost power over the straits of florida. and it could bring six inches to the northeast and mid-atlantic states. earlier it drenched cayman islands and cuba and in jamaica one person was killed an five are missing after a house collapsed. and as strange as this sounds, i'm not making it up, people, world war i officially ends in four days. yes, while the military conflict between germany and the allies ended 92 years ago, the financial penalties of germany for starting the war are unsettled, and the country owes $92 million in reparations with the money going to pension funds, and countries holding debt bonds. so break tout checkbook. and check this out, two pee-wee football teams in texas say they are are unfairly punished for this mayhem. remember, this is pee-wee football. two weeks ago opposing coaches

went at it exchanging punches, and two were banned from coaching for life. both teams were barred from the playoffs. just take a look at that video, but players and parents say it is not fair, because the players are punished for the behavior of the coaches and league officials will be asked tonight to let the teams into the playoffs. wolf, they were 11 and 12 years old, and that is the kind of mayhem that broke out. >> a great example of the adults are showing for the kids. oh, my gosh. terrible. >> oh, gosh. >> thank you for that. alleged plot for a conservative activist to lure a cnn correspondent on to the boat and embarrass her and the network. we have details of what he had planned. republican senator lindsay graham is here in "the situation room." he is walking in, and we will talk about the frustration in washington, on capitol hill, and senator graham and me, we are next. >> absolutely. stay tuned. driving home nails quickly and easily in the tightest spaces.

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we are back here in "the situation room" with senator lindsey graham, republican of south carolina. here are five things that you should know about our guest. >> reporter: he is a conservative with a rebellious streak. graham is a critic of president obama's health care reform plan, but he was the only republican on the senate judiciary committee to support president

obama's supreme court nominee elena kagan. he is willing to buck the party line. he's been in a gang. in 2005, graham joined an influential and bipartisan group of senators, the so-called gang of 14 brokered a compromise that ended a bitter stalemate over president bush's judicial nominees. he's got connections. graham has teamed up with some of the biggest names in the senate on major legislation, including democrats. he is especially close with fellow republican john mccain. >> john mccain has lived the american dream. >> reporter: and backed both of his presidential bids. he's worn the uniform. >> i was stationed in baghdad. >> reporter: graham is an air force reservist and did brief stints in iraq and afghanistan. he played a role in obama's wars. the new bob woodward book portrays graham as a central figure in creating and carrying

out president obama's afghanistan policy. and republican senator lindsey graham is here in "the situation room." senator, welcome. >> well, that was pretty impressive. >> if you say so yourself. >> i have aged. >> and let's talk about some of the issues, the poisonous atmosphere if washington. >> yes. >> and you have been in washington a long time, and have you ever experienced this level of, i want to use the word hatred? >> well, impeachment was close, but this is good that we leave. it is good that we get out -- >> impeachment effort toward bill clinton. >> yes, and it is good to get out of town and have an election and try to move forward. >> do you think that you can? >> well, we need to, and the alternative of keep doing nothing is devastating to the country. i'm an mist and the new people coming in on the republican side are going to do well because the democrats are dg poorly. half of the people say they want to check the democrats, and that is why we are doing well, the checks and the balances are missing, but once we get back into power or close to power, i hope we will be constructive.

>> bob woodward in the new book and there is a lot written in there about the role you have played as an informal adviser to the president, and rahm emanuel, and chief petraeus and the u.s. military commander there, and you are quoted in the book by biden saying that lindsey graham has the best instincts in the senate. joe biden, and obama agreed said bob woodward. >> well, it is like being the tallest short person. well, i told the president before i was sworn in, and he was sworn in, that i would help the troops to succeed in a war we cannot lose. i meant it then and i mean it now. when it comes to national security, i want to be seen as someone who can help the president, and vice president and general petraeus, because these young men and women deserve the politicians to work together for their common interests. >> from day one of the obama administration and even before the day one of obama administration and when biden went over there, he asked you to

go along and here is the question in afghanistan right now, do you support the president's decision to at least begin the withdrawal process next july? >> i share the goal of transitioning as soon as possible, but the way he has done it has created an impediment, and announcing we will leave next july no matter what em boldens the enemy. >> he didn't say -- >> well, it does embolden the enemy, and by next summer, we can transition to afghanistan control in parts of afghanistan and bring some troops home which is possible give ten progren th but i wish he would back off the idea of we are leaving in june. >> it is getting worse in some parts? >> well, there is progress that i have not seen. we have chances to break through on corruption. if the three cases pending could

g the trial, it would be a cultural change. holding and building requires governance and that means that the afghanis have to do well and the pakistani government has to help us with this. and it is tough to know that taliban roaming around pakistani village without impunity has to change. >> and hamid karzai has been indicated as unstable, and you have met him? >> dozens of times. >> you areing he is unstable? >> well, if you are not worried of what is going on in afghanistan, then there is something wrong. he was elected in an imperfect election, and he and general petraeus have progress and i have seen progress that i have not seen it. time will tell, but he has to step it up. we have to take the fight to the enemy and no ability to detain an insurgent as a national

security threat in afghanistan. we had the ability in iraq. he has to get all in on corruption. he is right about pakistan and quite frankly our contracting practices have undermined the afghan government. so there are things on our side that we can do to help him. >> when you say pakistan, and pakistani military intelligence service part of the problem or the service? >> both. they have taken casualties and taken the fight to the front tier regions, but they are double dealing. they don't know whether we are going to stay or leave. our president needs to say that we want to get it right, and history will judge him not by when he left, but what he leaves behind. >> are you talking to the president and rahm emanuel? >> yes, why not? we have young men and women literally shot at as we speak. it is inconceivable to me that the partisan politics in washington continues to affect war policy. i don't want to do in afghanistan what we did in iraq. >> let me switch gears briefly, your colleague in south

carolina, jim dement is threatening to hold up everything unless he clears it. he is getting grief from not just democrats, but republicans. are you with him on this? >> well, he is getting support of the people out there who are are tired of the status quo. jim has brought a new energy and recruited candidates who i think that will change the status quo, and all in all, jim is doing a good job of getting our party back to the fiscal conservati conservativism, but if we get power up here and make gains, what are we going to do with it? the american people wanting checks and balances that are missing, but our party is in poor standings with the american people, and that is something that we have not addressed yet. >> are you working the democrats on immigration reform? >> yes, i am ready to solve the immigration problem once and for all. if i am not willing to work on immigration reform? why am i up here? start with the big problem for the country. i am willing to do something for making america stronger as long as i get something for it.

>> lindsey graham is one of two republican senators from south carolina. senator, thank you for coming in. >> thank you, wolf. god bless. we are getting news on a deadly bus crash with new details unfolding and coming in. and this notorious undercover sting thrust him into the sting, but wait until you hear what this conservative activist tried to pull over on abbie boudreau. >> and the bleeding heart liberals out there -- from occasional constipation. find the relief that's right for you and get a $10 rebate at getconstipationrelief.com. [ evan ] ah it's cool. ah... ah. ah. ah. ah. ah. ah. ah. ah. ah! ah! whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, what is that?

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kate bolduan is monitoring the other top stories in "the situation room" right now. hi, kate. >> hey, wolf. getting an update on the story we were following earlier today, a deadly bus crash in montgomery county, maryland. the bus drove off a ramp and careened down a steep enbankment, and one person is dead, and eight people are seriously injured. the rescue lad to bring out the jaws of life to get people off of the bus. we will bring you more details as we get them. new sanctions are announced against top iranian officials by

president obama, and secretary of state hillary clinton. they spell out severe human rights abuses against iranian citizens including torture, rape and murder. today, they will block their assets and bar u.s. citizens from doing business with them. the pakistani-american man accused of trying to plant a bomb in times square allegedly planted a second bomb in new york after the planned attack. that is according to documented filed today in court. feisal said he studied pedestrian volume on live webcams before the botched bombing to maximize casualties. and check this out. imagine that happening in the middle of new york city? fbi video right there just released today shows how devastating that attack could have been. this summer, the officials had a

controlled explosion in pennsylvania to calculate the impact of the botched attack. adam gadahn, the american turned spokesman is speaking out against afghanistan and pakistan in a new videotape saying that both governments are serving only u.s. interests and not the interests of the local muslim population. cnn has not independently verified the authenticity of the videotape, because it is posted on web sites noted to carry similar messages in the past. >> thank you, kate. he is known for the undercover sting, and now this conservative activist tries to pull one over on abbie boudreau. that is coming up. and plus, a follow-up to the famous tennis brawl, and one of these people have now been arrested. jeanne moos takes a most unusual look. [ male announcer ] it's luxury with fire in its veins. bold. daring. capable of moving your soul.

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he is most widely known for pretending to be a pimp in an undercover sting video. now activist james o'keefe is back in the headlines for trying to embarrass cnn. before we tell you about that, here is a brief reminder of o'keefe's previous antics. last year, and he a fellow activist posed as a pimp and prostitute while targeting acorn. they showed acorn workerers to give him advice on setting up brothels and evading taxes. prosecutors found no wrong going wor acorn, but the scandal destroyed the organization. and then the next target was

mary landrieu of louisiana. they gained access to her office by posing as repairmen. and now we go to the latest botched project, trying to punk special correspondent abbie boudreau who is joining us in "the situation room" with more. how did this unfold, abbie? >> well, it started when i got a phone call from james o'keefe who was part of an upcoming shoot that we were covering for a documentary that we are working on right now. he had concerns about cnn being there, and so he asked me to meet him and his colleague izzy santa at his office in maryland. he wanted me to come alone. that is when this project took a very strange turn, but luckily i had a flip cam with me, so when i left the so-called meeting, i turned the camera on. >> reporter: when i pulled up to the property, izzy was waiting for me. she said, i need to talk to you,

can i get into the car? i was like, okay. so i noticed that she had like a little bit of dirt on her face, and her lip was shaking. she seemed really uncomfortable. and i asked her if she was okay? and the first thing that she basically said to me was, i'm not recording you. i'm not recording you. are you recording me? i was, no. she says, i need to tell you something. i said, okay, is everything okay? you are making me nervous? she said, no. no, not everything. everything is not okay. i -- i'm a moral person and i need to tell you something. well, what is about to happen? tell me what is going on? she said, you are about to be punked. izzy told me that the plan was to bring me close to the dock and ask me if i could consent to have my meeting with james recorded on an audiorecorder and if i said yes, she would get me

on the boat where james was waiting and hidden video cameras were waiting. why is the goal to get me on the boat, she said, because on the boat, he is going to be there, dressed up, and he is going to have strawberries and champagne waiting foryou. and he was going the hit on you the whole time. she said that the sole purpose of the punk was to embarrass me and cnn. i went to the backyard to see the boat for myself and to try to meet james. bud he didn't get off of the boat, so i walked back to my car. then right before i left, james walked up to me. he explained that it would make him feel more comfortable if the so-called interview were recorded. that is not something i am comfortable with is to have this conversation recorded, plus, it is not an interview. i am here to address your concerns about this upcoming shoot, but you wanted me to come all of the way out here and you told me that you would be at your office and instead, you want me to come on some boat

with you, and you want it to be recorded. those were ground rules you should have said over the phone and you didn't. he said, what are you ashamed of, and that is when i said, all right. this is where the conversation ends, and i said to him, it was a pleasure. we found out that there was an elaborate 13-page document that outlines the plan to punk cnn, and it is called the "cnn caper document." it is in two parts of how to trick cnn about a false story about sarah palin or the tea party and the plan was to give fox news a fake story so fox could undercut cnn's credibility and the second part of the plan was how to punk me by seducing me on the boat. the document says that the boat would be staged with sexual props, a blindfold, and fuzzy handcuffs and pornographic

magazines and much, much more, and wolf, just to be clear, his mentor and fellow activist is written as the writer of the "cnn caper document" and james is the activist and he is the one who would have acted out the punk. james did e-mail us a statement to cnn about the "caper document" and he says, that is not my work product. when it was sent to me, i immediately found certain elements highly objectionable, and inappropriate and did not consider them for one minute following it, but we would learn that does not appear to be true. we have a series of e-mails, audiorecordings and other documentation and were told to show his true intentions and all of that is going to be revealed in the documentary that airs saturday. >> did he say anything to you, directly, abbie, about wanting to go with you on this boat? >> no, he said nothing about a boat. i thought we were meeting at his office or maybe at lunch, if he

told me about a meeting scheduled at a boat, i would not have felt comfortable. the only reason i went was to ease his concerns about an upcoming shoot. >> how does this impact your documentary? >> well, this is a small part of the documentary. i mean, the documentary as a whole is about a growing movement of young conservatives, and people with an idea and a video camera, and they say that they are frustrated with the mainstream media, and they are using social media to get the message out, and we are committed to staying true to the original premise of the documentary. and wolf, whether you agree or not disagree with the viewpoints, you have to respect their passion. these are are passionate young people and it will shine through in the documentary. >> it must have shaken you up a little bit? >> well, as a reporter, you are not prepared for something like this, and it is difficult to understand what was this about

and why was i the target of something like this, but we have made sense out of this over the past several weeks, and we will reveal it all in the docume documentary. >> thank you very much, abbie. good, good, work from abbie and her team. they always do good work for us. and jack cafferty has your e-mails and huge brawl in a sporting event that is reserved for the reserved crowd. and if you're gonna try and do this in anything other than a chevy... well, good luck...month. great deals on the complete family of chevy trucks all backed for a hundred thousand miles. it's truck month. now, during truck month, get 0% apr financing on all trucks and full-size suvs like this 2011 silverado. see your local chevrolet dealer. and she said hair was growing back... i was like, yes, this works...

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just getting a statement in from the jimmy carter center, metro health hospital, in cleveland, former president carter's continuing to recover from the stomach distress that was reported earlier. his medical team at metro health medical center has determined that the likely cause was a viral infection that is now clearing up. we wish the former president

only the best of the speedy recovery. let's go to jack for the cafferty file. jack. >> the question is hour is why would you vote for any incumbent in the upcoming midterms? wilhelm writes, because in some cases, the challenger is completely unbeing unacceptable. the alternative to harry reid is just plain nuts. for a senior like me, that would be like a chicken voting for colonel sanders. don in wisconsin writes, because they voted the way i wanted them to. democrats got health care passed, not a perfect bill, but a great start, long overdue, financial reform, et cetera. bob in kansas city, because the incumbent would be the lesser of two evils given some of the nut cases in various parts of the country. loren writes, i don't think there are any incumbents running in illinois. they've either all been r someew

and next election that person will be incumbent. vote for the best candidate, period. if the person running is a lunatic, should i vote for her just because the alternative is an incumbent? bill writes, better to vote for a career politician or a wannabe career politician? is there a difference? none of the above needs to be amoong the ballot choices. i sense the right type of individual for these jobs is either too smart to want it, unelectable or both. dave in orlando writes, okay, i give up, why would you? and keith in ohio, is this a trick question? there needs to be another lever for the voters to use in the election. that would be "flush." if you want to read more on this, you'll find it on my blog, cnn.com/cafferty file. >> see you tomorrow, jack, thank you. a new development on the fierce battle over at the u.s. open and jeanne moos is next. goes everyday. driving home nails quickly and easily in the tightest spaces. more innovation, more great values.

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an arrest stemming from a most up usual spot. here's cnn's jeanne moos. >> reporter: there are tennis balls and there are tennis brawls. >> oh, my god! >> reporter: and this tennis brawl a few weeks ago at the u.s. open captured from every angle set off a chain of events that finally resulted in this guy's arrest. the fight started after a woman and her 75-year-old dad got mad at new yorker joey petville for

apparently cursing and talking loudly during the match. they argued. she slapped him. joey managed to restrain himself physically. but not verbally. >> shut up! >> -- a lot of money on the game -- pay for my ticket -- >> reporter: this at a sporting event where the most commonly heard "f" word is usually "fault." the dad went after joey. >> hey, security! >> reporter: the fight ended when security finally arrived. joey was escorted out. the crowd cheered. joey returned the favor with his fingers. the cell phone videos became youtube hits. >> it's great. you got to see this video. >> reporter: end of story? not quite. well, now joey has been arrested for alley threatening to kill a

neighbor who called him a nut. to be more exact, this guy's an insane nut was the quote the neighbor gave to "the new york post" after the tennis brawl. we tried to talk to joey but couldn't find him. the neighbor already had a restraining order out against joey. the two had been feuding for months. the insane nut quote got joey so mad the complaint alleges he told the neighbor, you are going to get it, i am going to kill you. but what won't die is the video of the brawl. one youtuber synchronized three different angles. he even added a fourth view. when the match halted as even the players watched the fight. for a genteel sport, this is quite the volley. >> what the [ muted ] is wrong with people? that's the first time i've ever enjoyed the u.s. open